Okay. Okay, she could do this.
She took a deep breath. “I can do this.”
Michael gave her a reassuring grin. “I know you can, or we wouldn’t have asked.”
Nice to see he had so much faith in her. If only she felt the same way.
“Wait.” Aaron rested a hand on her shoulder. “Samantha needn’t go into the prison at all. All I need to do is fly her close enough to disable the security. Then I can break in and plant the clock.”
Samantha turned her head and narrowed her eyes at Aaron. Was he serious? “How many places have you broken in to? Because, let me tell you, I’ve broken into a lot. I can be in and out of there faster than it would take for you to figure out how to get in.”
Michael let out a sigh and pulled out the chair opposite Samantha, sinking into it. He rested his elbows on the tabletop. “She’s right, brother.”
She reached her hand up to close it over Aaron’s hand on her shoulder, squeezing in reassurance. “I can do this, Aaron. Promise.”
He shook his head, eyes flashing, and a sliver of dissatisfaction—and if she wasn’t mistaken, fear—wafted off him. “It’s too dangerous, beloved. I don’t want to put you into danger.”
And she appreciated that...but she didn’t appreciate him trying to control her. She was nothing if not her own woman. “I said I’m going, and that’s that.”
Michael glanced at Eva before saying softly, “I believe the rest of us are in agreement with you on that, Samantha.”
Aaron’s lips pressed together tight, and much to Samantha’s surprise, he turned from them and stalked toward the door, throwing it open and stomping outside without another word. She stared after him, mouth open. “Uh...whoa.”
Michael sighed and rested his head in his hands. “I’m afraid he doesn’t like our plan, and I can’t blame him. I wish it involved more certainty. Less danger.”
But they didn’t have that luxury.
“I understand,” Samantha whispered. “I’d better go check on him.”
She retrieved her coat and tugged it on, not bothering with the scarf or gloves, and stepped outside.
While they were inside, the sun had crept up over the horizon, adding a soft glow to the snow covering the ground. There was a quiet sort of beauty to all this white. A pity that the Consortium had hidden something so sinister amidst all this purity.
Samantha spotted Aaron along the edge of a copse of trees, perhaps two hundred yards away. Snow crunched under her feet as she trudged forward, grateful for the serviceable brown hiking boots Tayla had lent her. The sun had warmed the temperature to what felt like close to fifty degrees Fahrenheit, so at least her face wasn’t freezing, but her hands were cold. She dug them into the pockets of her heavy wool coat.
“It’s cold out here. You should go back inside,” Aaron said without turning to face her once she was close enough to hear him.
“Not without you.” She came to a stop directly behind him, sliding a hand out of her pocket to place it along his bare back. “What’s wrong?”
He whirled to face her, crushing her into his arms. “I hate this.”
“I know.” Heart breaking a little at the pain in his voice, she snuggled herself into him, allowing him to lend her his warmth. “I know. Me too, but what’s the alternative.”
“I just don’t...” He sighed. “I can’t stand to see you risk your life.”
She buried her face in his neck, inhaling his masculine scent. God, she’d come to love that scent. She didn’t know how she’d live without it. “You knew it was always going to come to this.”
“But I didn’t know you then. I can’t live without you, Samantha.”
Holy shit. No one had ever told her that before. The longing to tell him he didn’t have to was almost overwhelming. But he would have to, wouldn’t he? If she left...
If.
Funny what a difference a few days could make. She’d gone from when to if without even realizing it.
“Aaron, I—”
He didn’t give her a chance to finish. Simply tugged her head back and crushed his lips to hers. Claiming her in a manner so primal that she couldn’t even begin to object.
Desire flamed within her, flushing her body with heat. The cold didn’t matter anymore. Nor the fact that they were outside in broad daylight. None of it.
She needed to have him. Now.
“Aaron,” she said, practically begging him for more.
“Yes,” he gritted out. Lifting her in his arms, he stepped further into the woods, hiding them from view of the cabin. He set her down to strip her coat from her in the blink of an eye, and before she could even say anything, he’d whirled her around to face a tree. As his hands crept under her thick sweater, she grabbed onto the tree for balance.
“Yes, Aaron. Yes.”
His warm hands closed over the globes of her breasts, cupping and kneading them. She arched her sensitized nipples into his palms while her ass pressed back into the hardness straining against Aaron’s zipper.
“Samantha,” he whispered, running his lips and tongue along the side of her neck.
“Please. Now!”
He didn’t delay any longer, thank God, simply removed his right hand from under her sweater. He slid his zipper down, and a second later, his questing hand tugged the fly of her jeans open. She helped him yank the jeans, along with her panties, down over her backside, freeing her body to him. A second later, he was there, probing at her entrance. She was ready for him. More than ready.
“Yes,” she moaned.
He grabbed hold of his cock and placed it at her wet entrance. Holding tight to both of her hips, he thrust all the way into her body.
A scream rent her throat as she arched backward, accepting all of him. Part of her felt too full, too quickly, but no way did she want him to stop. She wanted every last inch of him.
Now.
Who knew if this would be their last intimate moment together?
“Please,” she cried out.
He responded by pressing his upper body into her, pinning her between him and the tree. He splayed his legs and slid out, then rammed in again, keeping his grip firm on her hips. Forcing her to take all he could give her. She pressed her ass further back and up, submitting to him completely.
“Samantha,” he groaned, closing his teeth over her earlobe and biting down gently.
“Fuck me,” she moaned. “Hard.”
With a guttural cry, he did as she bade, pumping in and out of her so deeply that his testicles slapped against her clitoris with every penetrating thrust.
“Yes!” she screamed as her first orgasm blasted through her, leaving her limbs quaking. No longer caring how wanton she looked, or even who might be able to see them, she shoved against him, pushing him away so she could drop to all fours. He followed her down, pressing on her shoulders so that her cheek touched the ground yet her ass was raised in the air. Not even the stinging bite of the snow pressed against her skin was enough to quell the steaming heat that seeped from her pores.
She liked this Aaron, the forceful one who took what she gave him and more.
With his hand guiding his erection, he shoved himself inside her once more, sliding in much more easily this time. Her walls quivered and closed around him so tightly that he jerked against her with a muffled yell. Leaning over her, he pumped his hips fast and steady, building to a furious rhythm that quickly had her on the edge of ecstasy once again.
“Y-yes,” she panted, barely even able to breathe anymore.
His hand slid down to rub her clit, gliding easily along her flesh from all the moisture. Two strokes and she came hard, body clenching around him.
“Oh, yes. Yes,” he cried out, body stiffening against hers, and a moment later, she felt the sweet rush of liquid deep inside her. She arched back, eagerly squeezing every drop out of him. She would take everything he could give her.
Finally he collapsed against her, dropping them both into the snow. She gasped at the moistu
re seeping in through her sweater. Now that their passion had subsided, the cold once more began to penetrate her skin. Apparently reading her mind, he whirled to his back, pulling her onto him and out of the snow.
Wow...that was...wow.
She could barely even think. Certainly couldn’t move.
No one had ever loved her like that before.
It had been beyond amazing. Indescribable.
She blinked back residual tears that longed to escape, her body racked with aftershocks. God, she couldn’t imagine never getting to do this with him again. Couldn’t imagine being without him. She...
“I love you, Samantha,” Aaron gasped as he pressed his arms around her. “I love you.”
Yes...her thoughts exactly.
Maybe, after this was all over...maybe...
Blinking hard, she forced those errant thoughts out of her head. Right now wasn’t the time to focus on anything other than how she was going to get in and out of the prison without being detected. Later, if everything went according to plan...if she survived...
Well, if that happened, then she could focus on the future.
On what would happen between them.
Chapter Thirteen
If she was going to die today, at least she’d die trying to save the world.
That was the mantra Samantha repeated to herself over and over as she hid in a thicket of trees on top a steep hill about five miles west of the prison.
Ready to risk it all.
As if he sensed her unease, or perhaps was filled with his own, Aaron wound his arms around her, the bare skin of his chest warming her even through the thick layers of her wool coat. “You don’t have to do this. We can turn back.”
“No.” She shook her head. “It’s too late to turn back now. This has to be done.”
Aaron sighed but nodded grimly, as if that was the response he expected. He touched his finger to the communication device in his ear. “What’s the status, Michael?”
Samantha pressed the device in her own ear and listened in. There was a moment of initial static, then Michael’s voice sounded out. “We’re set. Lucas is just about ready to detonate. Are you ready?”
Aaron turned his questing gaze to her. When she nodded, he let out a clipped, “Yes.”
“Then here we go,” said Michael’s grim voice.
Aaron kept his arms wrapped around Samantha as they trained their gazes to the east. All too soon, the loud boom of an implosion rocked the air around them, trembling the ground. Almost ten miles to the east, a thick plume of smoke rose out of one of the three mountains that dotted the horizon.
“Show time,” Aaron muttered.
Samantha took a deep breath. “I’m ready.”
Aaron lifted her into his arms, keeping his gaze on the horizon. Scouting out the prison that her nephilim eyes couldn’t see from this far a distance. After a few moments, he said, “The Consortium Guards are running toward the mountain. Seven angels have run out of the prison and taken flight to it as well.”
“Could that be all of them?” she whispered.
His eyes closed momentarily. “Let’s pray that it is.”
With those words, he lifted off into the sky, zooming them toward the east. The biting breeze whipped through her hair and she buried her face in Aaron’s neck, drinking in the masculine scent that now felt like home to her. God, could this be the last time she flew in his arms? The last time they embraced?
No. Stay focused, Samantha. Focused.
Taking several deep, calming breaths, she forced herself to think about the prison and about what she’d do once she broke inside.
After several minutes of intense flight, Aaron began to descend. Samantha glanced down...and saw the prison.
It looked bigger than she’d imagined, like a concrete fortress floating amidst a sea of white. To the east of the prison she could make out some of the Consortium Guards hovered along the edge of the woods, their gazes trained on the smoking mountain. No other angels in sight, but then they’d probably already arrived at the scene.
She said a quick prayer for Michael and Lucas. Hopefully they’d been able to fly off quickly enough to elude chase.
Angling toward the ground, Aaron touched down right in front of the now-unguarded west entrance. As if reluctant to let her go, he held her in his arms for one more moment before setting her to her feet.
“Samantha...” He trailed off, staring at her intensely.
She memorized the lines and curves of his face, his body. This was the mental image she would hold in her mind the entire time she was inside. He’d be her reward for making it through.
“I’d better go,” she forced herself to say. “We don’t have much time.”
He reached for her. “I want to go with you.”
“No.” She stepped out of his reach. “We talked about this, remember? You need to keep a lookout here, in case they start back before I’m done.”
He pursed his lips tightly. “But I have no way of communicating with you once you jam the electronics. Our earpieces will be worthless.”
She placed a hand on his bare shoulder in an attempt to calm him. “If you need to, you can come find me.”
He opened his mouth like he was going to protest again, but finally he just shut it and gave her a nod.
Samantha pressed a light kiss to Aaron’s lips and moved toward the steel double doors. Aaron took one more look at her before flying up to the roof of the building, where he was to keep watch on the goings on back toward the east. Perched right along the edge of the building, he snapped his wings into his body. Just like magic, they disappeared. He crouched low to the rooftop, looking every inch the majestic creature he truly was, and his gaze scanned the horizon.
Samantha clasped her gloved hands together and bowed her head, suddenly feeling more alone that she’d care to admit. She concentrated on compressing her energy deep inside her. The little ball of flaming power in the pit of her stomach grew, drawing electricity from her surroundings and raising her hair on end.
After what seemed like far too long, there was a resultant change in air pressure that caused her ears to pop. That was her cue that electronic signals, including security system protecting the prison, had been temporarily disrupted. And now, because of Aaron, she knew it also meant that her aura had been masked, making her appear fully human instead of nephilim.
Once she’d slid her backpack off and removed her gloves, Samantha bent to examine the lock on the steel door. Apparently the angels relied more on their guards and the security system than the locks on the doors, because it would be disturbingly simple to pick.
After digging her tools out of her bag, she went to work on the lock. Seconds later, she heard a click.
Still got it, girl.
She dug the clock, in its pouch, out of the backpack and left the bag on the ground. Unbuttoning her coat, she then slid it off and deposited it next to the backpack. Now wearing just her trusty old cat burglar outfit, she was starting to feel on more familiar ground.
She could do this. It was just like any other burglary she’d conducted over the years.
Except the consequences for failure were about a million times more dire.
Pouch clenched tightly in her now freezing hand, Samantha took one step back and glanced up. Aaron was crouched at the edge of the roof, his gaze trained toward the east. As if he sensed her gaze on him, he turned his head and looked down.
She shot him a tremulous smile. I’ll be okay.
Slowly, he grinned, mouthing the words, “I love you.”
Her heart gave an answering thump. God, yes. Those words meant more to her than anything in the universe.
Unable to help herself, she obeyed the command of her heart...and mouthed the words back. “I love you, Aaron.”
She had the pleasure of seeing his eyes go wide with shock just before she trained her gaze back on the entrance into the prison. Steeling herself, she tugged on the freezing cold handle.
The door ope
ned with a barely-audible squeak. Heart in her throat, Samantha peeked inside.
She didn’t know what she’d expected to see, but this wasn’t it. The door opened to a long corridor, and another corridor ran perpendicular to it. The walls were concrete and painted a dark gray. Fluorescent bulbs hung here and there, but they didn’t make the interior look any less bleak and gloomy.
Samantha slid inside the building, letting the door silently shut behind her. She glanced up and saw a security camera. Though the “On” light was blinking, thanks to her ability, the screen showed nothing but static. Good.
Willing her breath to calm to a manageable level, she contemplated which way to go. Left, right, or straight ahead?
Well, given what she’d learned from Aaron and the others about the Tribunal, they would probably choose the straightest path to any sort of public meeting place. With that in mind, she stepped forward, gripping the clock tightly in front of her.
The corridor went on for several long moments before she finally saw a break in it: two openings directly opposite of each other. Pulse racing, she crept up to one and peeked inside. Empty. Whirling around, she looked into the other. It was also empty. Each of the rooms held nothing more than a steel desk with something that looked like chains attached to it and a chair.
Lord, could these be interrogation cells?
The grim reality of where she was hit her full force. This was not just any building, but a prison built to hold prisoners. People whose only crime was being born human.
A slight case of nausea caused her stomach to roil, but she pressed forward.
There were several more interrogation cells, all of them blessedly empty. Finally the corridor came to an end at an open door.
Legs quivering, Samantha slunk along the wall.
Please be strong.
She’d pulled off many a scary heist in her time. She needed to treat this like those, or else she’d fall apart before she could accomplish her goal.
Samantha forced herself to proceed, sliding toward the door and then glancing inside.
A-ha. The large room was empty.
For Want of an Angel Page 10
